As far as I can tell from the local media reports, the woman isn't claiming anything, it's the uncle.

Yeah I was about to say that. The woman isn't the one that said the child is his. It's the Uncle.

There could be a lot of reasons why a woman wouldn't say anything about the child. If she had an affair and then fixed the relationship with her boyfriend or husband. Then found out she was pregnant. She knew if she told her significant other about the affair. They would leave her.

So she would've been pregnant with virtually no support. Since Heath was only 17 and not famous at the time. I'm sure he wasn't in a position to properly provide for a child. So she would keep her mouth shut and just say it was her boyfriend or husbands kid. Which is pretty bad in itself but happens a lot more than you think

If the child is being raised by a man she knows as her only father, then there's a reason for it. If the mother wanted this to come out, then she should have been the one to say something. It's disgusting that Heath Ledger's uncles are supposed to be his flesh and blood, and yet they're trying to drag his name through the mud over cash.